Mineola Woman Is 6th to Die in Rail Shootings

By JOHN T. McQUISTON,

Published: December 13, 1993

MINEOLA, L.I., Dec. 12—
Amy Federici, a 27-year-old corporate interior designer who was just widowed, today became the sixth person to die as a result of Tuesday's shooting on the Long Island Rail Road.

Mrs. Federici, whose husband died of cancer just a year ago, only three months after they were married, died at 10:13 A.M. at Winthrop University Hospital here, a hospital spokesman said. Doctors said a single bullet wound to the neck had severely damaged her brain.

Word of Mrs. Federici's death came as the Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered a sermon at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in neighboring Garden City. Speaking of redemption and reconciliation, he said that he stood with the victims' grieving families and that it was a "time to move from violence and the use of inflammatory rhetoric and seek a common ground." 'The Damage Has Been Done'

"Violence is no longer an option for resolving conflicts," he told several hundred people of all faiths. "The damage has been done, and it is time to heal."

Mr. Jackson said he had decided to give the sermon to help prevent any backlash toward black people stemming from the fact that a black man, Colin Ferguson, is charged in the case. And after the sermon he said, "We should not derive from this a race motif, but a sick motif."

At a news conference today, Mrs. Federici's mother talked about her daughter.

Mrs. Federici's mother, Arlene Locicero, an English teacher at Hawthorne High School in Hawthorne, N.J., said her "artistically gifted daughter" had a love of fashion and design. Mrs. Federici grew up in Hawthorne and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

She went to work for Macy's, then, after her husband died of pancreatic cancer, she took a job with Viacom Industries at its offices in Manhattan.

She was involved in office design projects for Viacom, her mother said.. She recently moved to Mineola from Bayside, Queens, to be close to the Long Island Rail Road and to make her commute to New York City more convenient, Mrs. Locicero, said.

Her husband, Jacob, and 21-year-old daughter, Carrie, a senior at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., were by her side as she spoke. Mrs. Locicero said that she and her family had spent nearly all of their time at the hospital since Tuesday night and that they had asked that all news reports of the shooting be kept from them. Scholarship Is Planned

Mrs. Federici's undamaged organs were removed and donated through the Long Island Transplant Service, said John P. Broder, a spokesman for the hospital.

Mrs. Locicero said the family planned to set up a scholarship in Mrs. Federici's name at Hawthorne High School. Holding back tears, Mrs. Locicero said her daughter had worked with a local organization in New Jersey, Project Unity, dealing with children and violence.

She questioned those who created "toys and games and videos that are violent and horrendous.

"Violence is being accepted by our young people as a viable answer to problem solving," she said.

Funeral services for another victim, Dennis McCarthy 52, of Mineola, were scheduled to be here Monday morning at 9:30 at Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church. Burial was to follow at the Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury.

Dr. Herbert Perry, a trauma surgeon at Winthrop University Hospital, said that Mrs. Federici's brain had been deprived of oxygen by her wound. He said the bullet had passed through part of her brain and caused severe blood loss. He said she was in cardiac arrest when she was brought into the hospital Tuesday evening and never regained consciousness.

Dr. Bernard J. Savella, a neurologist at the hospital, said that Mrs. Federici became brain dead on Saturday and that life support was ended after removal of her donated organs.

Also today, the former wife of Mr. Ferguson, the man accused of the shootings, released a statement saying that "while no words are adequate to express the sorrow I feel for the victims and their families, I must state that my thoughts and prayers are constantly with them."

Audrey Warren, who said she obtained an uncontested divorce from the suspect, Colin Ferguson, in May 1988, said in the statement released by her lawyer, Christopher Critelli, that she had had no contact with her ex-husband for three or four years. In her statement, Ms. Warren said, "During our marriage it became apparent that Colin had differing social views which contributed significantly to the breakup of our marriage. However, I could never have imagined that Colin was capable of committing the terrible act" of which he is accused.

Photos: Amy Federici (pg. B1); The Rev. Jesse Jackson being escorted by police officers as he arrived at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City. He said that he stood with the grieving families of the victims and that it was a "time to move from violence and the use of inflammatory oratory and seek a common ground." After Amy Federici died yesterday at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, L.I., her family held a news conference. From left were Mrs. Federici's father, Jacob Locicero, sister, Carrie, and mother, Arlene Locicero. (Photographs by Steve Berman for The New York Times)(pg. B6)